


A Thread of Possibility

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Fireside Tales [117]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-02
Updated: 2014-04-02
Packaged: 2018-01-17 21:22:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1402876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a sorrow on her face that makes Romana flinch, the sort of loss that she can only wish she did not understand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Thread of Possibility

**Author's Note:**

> Romana, after the Time War  
> Prompt: Mother  
> Alternate Universe: In the Doctor's Place

The human who is sitting against the door of her TARDIS is older, a woman with a lined face that is more tired than anything else. Romana watches her through the external sensors, mentally cataloging what she can tell from simply watching.

Black hair just beginning to be touched with gray, that's looking a little frayed, straying from the otherwise neat chignon at the nape of her neck. The loose strands seem to create a dark halo around her head, and Romana feels her lips twitch up in a wry smile at her fancy.

The dress she wears isn't the current fashion, but it's well cared for, and while faded, it's still serviceable. A woman who is perhaps down on her luck, or never has been able to live the life of the upper classes, despite her attempts to appear as such. Certainly not a woman of the aristocracy.

Romana rests her hands on the controls, wishing she could see the woman's face properly, but the human is facing away from the TARDIS, and keeps her expression hidden. If Romana leaves now, she will topple the woman over, or worse, pull her in her wake, and she won't do that. Won't leave her stranded in a place and time that will not be her own, and may well be inimical to human life.

It's nearly an hour before the woman shifts, a quiet sigh escaping her as she moves to stand up, resting one hand on the column Romana's TARDIS has appeared to be. There's a sorrow on her face that makes Romana flinch, the sort of loss that she can only wish she did not understand.

Looking down at the small mound Romana had set her TARDIS near, the woman smiles, her face softening. "At least someone thought well enough of you to place a monument, my boy." She pats Romana's TARDIS, fingers tracing the flutes a moment. "Perhaps that girl you made a fool of yourself over?"

She hadn't realized she'd parked herself in a graveyard - the columns are varied, and some are strange, but hadn't registered as monuments to the dead. Romana winces again, closing her eyes, though that doesn't shut out the woman's voice, quiet over the sensors.

"Your father still refuses to come, but you know how he is. So bound by tradition." Another sigh. "At least he's not fool enough to stop my coming." A long pause, long enough for Romana to look up again, studying the woman's expression once more. Still that deep sorrow, but tempered by affection and amusement.

"Your sister ran off with Avra Koshel's son two months ago, and we've not seen them since. Your father is promising to gut the boy if he ever finds him, so I do hope they have the sense to stay hidden until his passing."

Romana tilts her head, and carefully adjusts the controls. There is something there, a thread of possibility that is fragile, but not impossible. Waiting until the woman has finished talking to her dead son and left before following that thread back to a place and time.

A boy catches a girl who's dropped from her second-story bedroom window, and the two turn as Romana opens the door to the TARDIS, clinging nervously to each other. She smiles, and beckons. "They won't find you here, and I can take you anywhere you want to go."

The two look at each other, waiting a heartbeat before they dash for the open door, not asking any of the questions they perhaps should have. The door is shut seconds before the light goes on in the girl's bedroom, and a bellow echoes into the night. Romana grins, and goes to set the controls.

"Do you have anywhere you want to go?" She looks over at her guests, letting the long-dormant sense of adventure she has rise to the fore, a spark of challenge in her eyes.

"Earth." The girl returns her smile with a slow, slightly manic one of her own. "I've always wanted to see the mother-world."

**Author's Note:**

> Romana hadn't gone traveling with the intent to pick up companions, but she wasn't going to pass up the chance when she saw it. A way to pay some tribute to the Doctor, since he can't wander around the universe and pick up random people here and there to take on adventures. I don't have names for the two companions yet, other than the boy's family is Avra.


End file.
